Resident pleads to save Sands Dorsey

A Tucumcari resident appealed to the city commission Thursday night to make one more effort to save the remains of the Sands Dorsey building.

“Have we exhausted all avenues?” asked Don Falls. “Have we done everything to preserve an important part of downtown?”

To demolish the Sands Dorsey building, which was severely damaged by fire last summer, would be taking away another treasured landmark, Falls said. “There are not very many (landmarks) left for Tucumcari to hold on to or to pass on to future generations,” he said.

City commissioner and mayor pro tem, Jim Witcher, suggested that city staff explore the procedures and cost of selling bonds to generate capital to fix up the Sands Dorsey and other downtown buildings.

“The bottom line is money,” Witcher said.

If the citizens wanted to fix up the buildings, there is probably a way that it could be handled through bonds, with a small annual tax, Witcher said.

“The Sands Dorsey building was the McDonald’s of its day, and people have many fond memories of their time spent at the drug store fountain and its other shops,” Falls said.

Other small towns have redeveloped their downtown districts and made them appealing destination spots for tourists, and the same could happen in Tucumcari.